Hussar
Legend
In another conversation here about Dragonlance, I had a bit of an epiphany. For me, Dragonlance was probably the first larger setting I ever really got into. Yes, I played/ran in Mystara (well, at the time it would have been the setting in the back of the Moldvay Expert rules), Greyhawk and whatnot, but, it was Dragonlance that I actually dug into a little deeper. I bought the modules, I ran most of them, I read the stuff in Dragon magazine at the time, read the novels, so on and so forth. At least up until the release of the Dragonlance Adventures anyway.
But, in that conversation I realized something. To me, a campaign setting is indelibly linked to a specific campaign. Dragonlance, to me, is the War of the Lance and the 14 modules that went with that. I never got into anything after that. I never tried to run anything in Dragonlance that wasn't War of the Lance. To me, Krynn=War of the Lance and nothing else.
And, that pretty much characterizes my experience in gaming. Even back in the stone ages when I started gaming, settings were always tied to a single campaign. Star Frontiers, to me, is always Volturnus. Gangbusters is set in the 1920's real world. Same with James Bond. Campaigns that we played would be set in a specific setting, but, once we either changed campaigns, or changed games, that setting would always be left behind in favor of a new setting.
Even today, that still holds true for me. Since the release of 5e, I've either DM'd or played about 8 different campaigns. Some have reached a conclusion, some died a sad death, but, out of those 8 campaigns, I've played in Krynn, Ravenloft, Forgotten Realms, Primeval Thule, Greyhawk and Nentir Vale (sort of). Six settings for eight campaigns.
How about you? Do you set your games in the same setting, over and over again, building a library of lore specific to your table? Or, are you more like me and each setting is a specific backdrop for a specific campaign and even games set in the same setting likely have nothing to do with each other? Or, something in between?
But, in that conversation I realized something. To me, a campaign setting is indelibly linked to a specific campaign. Dragonlance, to me, is the War of the Lance and the 14 modules that went with that. I never got into anything after that. I never tried to run anything in Dragonlance that wasn't War of the Lance. To me, Krynn=War of the Lance and nothing else.
And, that pretty much characterizes my experience in gaming. Even back in the stone ages when I started gaming, settings were always tied to a single campaign. Star Frontiers, to me, is always Volturnus. Gangbusters is set in the 1920's real world. Same with James Bond. Campaigns that we played would be set in a specific setting, but, once we either changed campaigns, or changed games, that setting would always be left behind in favor of a new setting.
Even today, that still holds true for me. Since the release of 5e, I've either DM'd or played about 8 different campaigns. Some have reached a conclusion, some died a sad death, but, out of those 8 campaigns, I've played in Krynn, Ravenloft, Forgotten Realms, Primeval Thule, Greyhawk and Nentir Vale (sort of). Six settings for eight campaigns.
How about you? Do you set your games in the same setting, over and over again, building a library of lore specific to your table? Or, are you more like me and each setting is a specific backdrop for a specific campaign and even games set in the same setting likely have nothing to do with each other? Or, something in between?